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Minn. roundup: Two killed following an alcohol-involved crash in northern Minnesota

BUHL, Minn. — Two people were killed following an alcohol-involved two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 169 outside Buhl late Saturday.

Jason Michael Gates, 26, of Superior, and 7-year-old Snowden Elizabeth Bothwell, of Hibbing, died in the crash, said the Minnesota State Patrol in a news release Sunday. They were in opposing vehicles that collided at the intersection of Highway 169 and St. Louis County Road 25 in Great Scott Township.

Another person, one of three minors and seven people involved in the crash, was taken to a Duluth hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Alcohol was a factor in the crash, the patrol said, indicating in its news release that Gates and his passenger had been drinking.

According to the news release, Gates was driving a 2013 Dodge Ram and was traveling south on County 25 when he collided with a westbound vehicle driven by Maegen Rae Hunt, 39, of Hibbing.

Hunt was headed west on Highway 169 in a Hyundai Elantra, which included five people in the car, the patrol said, including the 7-year-old who succumbed to her injuries. Hunt was transported to Fairview University Medical Center-Mesabi in Hibbing with non-life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.

Samuel Hunt Bothwell, 4, and Kaelen Maeve Dolinsek, 19, both of Hibbing, were transported to Fairview University with non-life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.

The passenger in Gates' vehicle, Joshua Wayne Johnson, 24, of Superior, was taken to Fairview University with non-life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.

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Teens injured when train hits truck on Iron Range

HOYT LAKES, Minn. — Three teens were hospitalized after a train struck a pickup truck east of Hoyt Lakes on Saturday afternoon.

About 4 p.m., a Dodge truck was traveling west on Skibo Road near Pine Street in Bassett Township when it was struck by a northbound CN train, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office reported. Authorities believe the truck failed to stop at a stop sign at the tracks before it was hit. All three occupants of the truck — Tyler Tedrick, 19; Lonny Callender, 18; and a 14-year-old whom the Sheriff's Office did not name — were taken to Essentia Health-Northern Pines in Aurora, but the Sheriff's Office could not comment on the extent of their injuries Sunday.